One of the biggest parades, festivals and parties in Bristol's calendar of events gets underway this morning as Bristol Pride takes to the streets, before a huge event at Millennium Square and the ampthitheatre.

We will be bringing you all the colour, fun and serious messages from the day, as a celebration of, by and for Bristol's LGBT+ community takes place in the city centre.

The parade gets started at 11am, so if you are out and about in the city centre, or driving into town to visit Broadmead and Cabot Circus, we'll have all the traffic and travel info you need, as well as bringing you the sights and sounds of what promises to be a raucous and colourful celebration.

Stage line-ups and set times

There are HUGE queues to get into the Amphitheatre ahead of the music starting

Huge queues at the Amphitheatre

12:49

Just LOOK how many people turned out

The parade is now starting to fill Millennium Square

Bristol Pride Parade 2018

12:47

Video from the incredible parade

12:38KEY EVENT

Traffic stopped

We are hearing that the front of the parade has reached the Amphitheatre, while the back of it is still at Castle Park.

There are hundreds lining the street to watch as the parade passes, traffic has been stopped southbound on Colston Street towards the Hippodrome, but traffic heading towards the Bearpit is still going.

12:30

“It was dealt with with love, they were shown out. All we can do is love them”

Elaine Sommers, from Christians at Bristol Pride, is a regular worshipper at St Mary’s Church in Shirehampton. The group held a short service before Pride, but it was targeted by fundamentalist Christians. She said the group protesting outside the service New Room Chapel in Broadmead came in and disrupted their service, trying to preach over them. “It was dealt with with love, they were shown out. All we can do is love them”

Christians at Bristol Pride taking part in the parade

12:20

There are thousands of people taking part

What an incredible turn out. The crowds are just never ending...

Bristol Pride 2018 parade

12:19

'Harry Potter taught us no-one deserves to live in a closet'

Bristol Pride 2018

11:22KEY EVENT

We are LIVE

Come and watch the parade over on our Facebook page. We are live streaming here.

11:16

Crews from Temple Fire Station to lead the Pride Parade

Along with their very colourful fire engine.

The Bristol Pride parade will be led by crews from Temple Fire Station

11:14

More killer outfits

Meet Miss Saggy Feathers and Tatty Bouffant. Looking incredible!

Miss Saggy Feathers and Tatty Bouffant at Bristol Pride 2018

11:13

Even the lions are out for Pride

The is Gideon Klaus, from Clevedon.

Gideon Klaus, from Clevedon, at Bristol Pride 2018

Gideous said: “It’s an original character I’ve been working on And I’m wearing it out today because why not? “I’ve been coming to Pride since 2012 - it’s just a great excuse for a party”

11:09

That's one colourful family

Callie said: “I’m so pleased to get in the Bristol Post. I’ve been coming to Pride for ten years without being photographed and I brought Stephanie for the first time last year and she got in the paper We love Pride!

There are a couple of controversies surrounding this year's Pride

Pride was, of course, set up as a political protest to raise awareness of the rights of LGBT+ people.

And Bristol Pride 2018 isn’t without its controversies.

Here’s the first one.

Before Pride, a group of Christians from local churches in the city centre are gathering for a service in the New Room - John Wesley’s original church - to celebrate and ‘affirm’ those taking part, before joining the Pride parade and cracking on with the party.

But that has angered another group of fundamentalist Christians, who are coming out to protest - not at Pride itself, but at the Christians who are celebrating it.

Roads will be closed - for a short time only

If you’re driving through the city centre, or to the city centre, there will be roads closed because of it. Because much of the city centre is now mainly for buses, bus passengers will be affected more than drivers.